


New Game Plus New Game Plus New Ga-

by Phantom_of_the_fanfic



Category: Xenoblade Chronicles, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, Groundhog Day situation, M/M, Multi, Oneshot, Other, Rex becomes Architect, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Time Travel Insanity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-15 21:00:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29070693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phantom_of_the_fanfic/pseuds/Phantom_of_the_fanfic
Summary: New Game Plus New Games Plus New Game PlusKlaus sat cross legged as he  watched them rush through the station. The boy dressed in blue gear with half of Pneuma's Core Crystal in his chest. There was something special about the boy, perhaps had he heen more prepared, he could've done so much more. Saved the world he had doomed to a slow death. Taking a deep breath, bright blue holograms moved with his fingers."I hope one day, you can forgive me for this,"
Relationships: Mainly references, Nia/Rex (Xenoblade Chronicles 2), too many - Relationship
Comments: 6
Kudos: 28





	New Game Plus New Game Plus New Ga-

"Come on guys!" They charged down the moving stairs, feet thudding on the metal floor. The desolate dipiladated Elysium was above them now, hiding the entrance they had burst through in a church on a hill. Malos was close, Rex knew it. The artifices were attacking Alrest now, they didn't have much time left. He didn't notice how the others were falling behind slightly as he pushed onwards. All that mattered was stopping Malos now before Alrest was destroyed, Rex had to stop him. Or everyone, everything they'd done, wouldn't matter, Vandham's sacrifice, Jin's final moments defeating Amalthus. None of it would matter if Malos wasn't stopped. As he approached a door leading into darkness, a voice in the back of his head whispered to him.

"I hope one day, you can forgive me for this," And he was enveloped in the darkness.

* * *

He burst onto a long since gone area. The sun beating down on him, covering his eyes instinctivly, he looked around. This was his hut, on Gramp's back! Whirling around he saw the Titan was back in his actual titan form as opposed to the larvae he'd been since Gormott. What... what happened? One minute he was sprinting headlong to fight Malos underneath Elysium after the gang fought their way up the....

"Rex! What on Alrest has you so panicked?" The croaky voice of the titan made him realise he'd been hyperventilating. Putting a hand to his chest he touched the green of Mythra and Pyra's core crystal.

"Just a nightmare Gramps, I may have accidentally closed my eyes a bit longer than exepected," A nightmare, that's what had happened. One that would never happen again.

This time he knew what was coming. So Rex decided to learn from it and stop things before they could happen. Somehow everything he'd been holding when he'd gone through the door under Elysium, he'd kept everything that had been on his body. Including the above average amount of gold they'd amassed from selling the scrap he'd foudn when salvaging recreationally when they took a day to catch their breath. He'd bought a notebook in Indol when they'd first visited to start putting down the thoughts he couldn't otherwise rid himself off. Now the first fourteen pages had rough outlines of what would happen in the two weeks until he ran through the door. Obviously it wasn't going to be perfect, it was all from memory. But he supposed it was better than nothing. Mooring at Argentum, he passed the twelve gold fee without much thought, forgetting he was still supposed to be the Rex from two weeks ago. Or the Rex of now? He was from the future, so which version was it? Luckily his confusion at the internal puzzle outwardly made him less suspicious. So he kept going. The same scrap for the same price at the trading station, he sent a bit more home to Connie though, since he could afford it this time. Things went exactly the same as they had the last time, but soon it would start going very differently. The Chairman summoned him directly and he made his way there. The connniving Nopon buttered him up and made the deal sound really good. Time to test his acting.

"A hundred thousand gold?!" He stepped back, feigning shock. Truthfully he was wondering if he could potentiall squeeze a bit more out of it this time. "But why me? I've only been in this gig a few years, why not get someone else?"

"Because Rex Leftherian!" Bana boasted, "Client want Letherian salvager and that when Bana know, Rex perfect for job!" Resisting the urge to roll his eyes he put his hands together,

"Alright, so when do I meet these guys? I wanna know if these guys are the types to kill me if I turn my back on them," Yeah, right. Malos was a bastard and Jin a warped sense of duty. On cue the door opened to revealed all three of them. He froze when Nia walked in, making direct eye contact with him. It took everything to not greet her, or even move at that. She didn't know him, she didn't remember what he did, she was still happy.

"A child salvager? Jin, don't tell me we're going to need to hire a babysitter for this trip too?"

"You look about as old as I do girlie!" Slightly different retort, but he knew that got under her skin more than lady.

"At least I wasn't wetting myself at a measely hundred grand,"

"That hundred grand will be putting food on the table for my family back home for a month, of course I'd get excited about it,"

"The hundred is just the advance, we'll be giving you another hundred after the job is done,"

"I haven't even agreed to it yet," Rex frowned at Jin, the calm man considered him a complete stranger, he just had to keep that up for a bit longer. "While I'd love two hundred grand for a quick trip, it seems like money you guys don't have looking at raggedy anne over there," Nia growled, "Mind you the armour your silent friend is wearing seems expensive, is he in charge of the budget? Because if he is you should probably hand it over to someone else," Malos smirked,

"He's got spunk, I'll give him that,"

"Well, living on your own for a few years does that to ya," He shot back, "But anyway, where's the proof you gys have _two_ hundred thousand, one I'd believe but two? It sounds like you'll just give me the money, get the job done, kill me and then take the money from my corpse, along with a whatever you want," Malos hadn't attacked him yet, so he was making an impression different from the last. "Why should I believe you won't kill me?" Nia seemed more horrified than anything, Jin was indifferent and the purple Aegis kept his smug grin.

"You can't," Jin finally said, "It's a reasonable suspicion, however we did request somone very specific, so why would we kill you at the end?"

"Cuz shiny's in charge of the treasury, you don't have the cash to spare,"

"Oh we do brat," Rex smirked as Malos snapped at him, "We got more than,"

"Three hundred thousand, hundred now two hundred after the job is done," The ravenette's face fell in shock as Jin sighed. Nia was off to the side trying to to laugh at Malos getting out smarted. "I mean if you got more than enough to give me two hundred, what's an extra hundred?" Malos had his tonfa in hand and darted at Rex. "I mean it's only _logical_ ," He muttered before the tonfa blade stopped inches from his neck. "You won't kill me," He stared into the black eyes bearing down at him, "You can't kill me,"

"Why can't I?"

"Because you need me, I'm the _only_ Leftherian this side of the World Tree, getting another Leftherian would take _days_ let alone a Leftherian salvager,"

"He's right, we need him," Jin agreed

"Until the job's done," Malos growled

"So you are going to kill me if I take the job?" A light smirk, Malos seethed quietly at being called out.

"No," He begrudingly admitted, "Two fifty and not a piece more,"

"Thank you," Rex nodded with a smile, "So a hundred twenty-five now?"

"We only brought a hundred thousand, didn't expect negotiations," Nia put a hand to her hips

"I'm full of surprises," He smiled, "I'll take the job, when do we leave?"

"Tomorrow, on the Maelstrom," Jin nodded,

"Wow, the Maelstrom? You guys are really pulling out all the stops, alright, well, I'll take the advance now, handle some business and meet you in the bizaar in about an hour or so?"

"Sorry kid, he doesn't,"

"I wasn't talking to him, I was talking to your lady, I'm guessing you guys aren't exactly familiars here, so I was going to show her the best place to get some decent food," Jin's stoic face broke into a smirk as Malos laughed harder, Nia paused, her face going red lightly. 

"I'm not a babysi-,"

"Hey, I'm just offering some good food instead of the cheap shitty ration stuff you guys undoubtedly have on whatever ship you rode in on," Allowing a small smirk, he remembered her sharing the tidbit back when they were enjoying some dinner in Uraya before Torna caught up. His hands raised in surrender, "Plus your Blade seems pretty nice, if we're stuck on a ship I need some _one_ to talk to," The white lion laughed, gently.

"Fine, but only because I do want to have something edible for once," She folded her arms, "Don't get too ahead of yourself,"

An hour and fifteen minutes later Nia and he were sat down in the Rumbletum Canteen, a plate of food from Fishy Fishy, the store nearby. Right now he was silently debating whether or not to tell her yet but he just wasn't sure. "Wishing you didn't let me get all I wanted?" Nia teased.

"No, just, trying to decide something or not," He took a deep breath, "Alright, look, I'm going to tell you something and I _need_ you to listen to me alright Nia?"

"How do y-,"

"I'll explain in a second just please, listen?" Her lips pursed, "Dromarch, you too?" The Blade nodded his head politely. "Okay, here... here goes nothing I guess," Looking her dead in the eyes he said it in one breath, "Iknowyou'reaflesheater," Her face paled, "But only because you told me, or will tell me?" Quickly shaking his head, he continued, "It doesn't matter, the important part is I know because you _wanted_ me to know," Doing some mental maths he added on, "About, six days ago, or in eight days time? It's hard to explain," Instinctively he pulled out his metal sword to hold her rings back. "I understand it's unbelievable but just listen," Her teeth were bared but she looked into his eyes. "Please,"

"My Lady, I think we should hear him out, he doesn't seem to have ill intent and he's definitely not from Indol," 

"Thank you Dromarch," Nia calmed down and Rex put his sword away, grabbing her wrist, "We need to talk in private," He dragged her into the Lemour Inn, putting a small stack of coins on the table and the counter as they passed both. Once the group was in a room, he turned and locked the door. Nia put a blade to his neck once he turned back around. "You probably won't believe me but at least believe I don't want to hurt you," He closed his eyes, "Just let me say my piece, if you don't buy it, you can kill me once the job is done, I won't lift a finger to stop you, deal?" The ring was once again drawn away. "I think I was sent back in time by the Architect, at least, we were about to meet him when I charged through the door of my room and found myself back on the Cloud Sea,"

"Oh Architect, I'm locked in a room with a looney,"

"Nia, listen to me, my name is Rex, over the next two weeks you and me go around Alrest on an adventure together, we meet Morag McDougal and Brighid who joins our party, get to know the Garfront Merceneries who I become the head of after Vandham dies and leaves me in charge, we meet Zeke Von Genbu and his blade Pandoria three times before they join us, Morag and Brighid, before the end of tomorrow we're going to crash land in Gormott and the titan that saves us turns into a larvae to survive the injuries he gets, we meet a Nopon named Tora whoe makes an artificial blade called Poppi, we get eaten by the Urayan titan and make our way to Fonsa Myma where Vandham died, we both nearly die, we end up in Morytha and climb the World Tree together, in Leftheria you meet Connie and you're forced to reveal you're a Flesh Eater, later telling me everything, please you have to believe me,"

"How? How on Alrest could I?" He opened the chest of his salvaging suit, revealed the scar of an X in his chest.

"Tomorrow evening Jin is going to stab me through the heart, with no explanation, they'll tell you to kill the other salvagers when you're above surface, when you say no Jin will tell you something about their lives being paid for and Patroka will get ready to destroy the Maelstrom, the next time you see me after I get stabbed, there's part of a core crystal in a cross here," 

"How do you survive getting stabbed through the heart?"

"The Aegis gives me part of her life force to help heal me and keep me alive,"

"And I go with you?" He nodded "And we somehow survive for two weeks?"

"More than that, we had Torna after us the entire time with Mor Ardain, mercs and Indol switching out with each other," A shudder. 

"Why should I trust you?"

"Because I'm trusting you with all of this," She looked into his eyes.

"Wow you are serious," A slight nod, "Alright Rex, I'll trust you,"

It had all gone right. At least compared to last time. After getting cornered by the Ardanian soldiers, he spoken to Brighid and asked to talk to Morag. Once there he was able to calmly explain why Nia wasn't in Torna anymore and what they had done to him. The Inquisitor had gotten a more detailed story now he didn't need to repeat himself to anyone else. Eventually she sent a telegram back to her brother and announced her mission was to assess the intention of the Aegis Driver. In Uraya he got Ahkos and Oberona before they could kidnap Iona, they still clashed with Malos at the Playhouse, except this time Mythra was able to stay asleep. Later in the night Rex had talked to Pyra about it and introduced himself to Mythra, Luckily the blonde knew what was going on thanks to sharing a mind with Pyra. She was still hesitant though, as expected. They made it to Indol with no difficult, helped capture Bana once and for all (For the second time). Got to Tantal, avoided captured long enough to explain the situation and got the Omega Fetter before Torna could catch up to them. They hit the World Tree and the group, now with Vandham entered a lot higher than they had before. With Ophion preventing Malos and Torna from chasing them, they were able to make their way up without fear. He'd known Elysium was in a horrible state but he also knew where to go. To the church they went and into the metal corridors they marched. This time everyone had lived, he had done it right.

So why, why.

Why was he back at the door of his hut again?!

* * *

Malos charged him with the tonfa. Nia looked on in horror as the boy didn't react, only for it to warp into shock when the weapon dematerialized from Malos' hand and into the kid's. In a blur of montion the salvager had the edge of Malo's blade to his own throat and a fold out sword hovering close to his eye, Jin moved and there was a clang of steel as he was holding both men back. "Nia, I suggest you look away," Neither Malos nor Jin spoke, so that meant the boy knew her name somehow. Malos recoiled from a knee into his gut and Jin jerked as he was stabbed through the heart. "That is for the two times you did it to me Flesh-eater," Malos was about to get up when the tonfa was buried into his gut, "You stay down you defunct Aegis, and maybe I won't shatter your crystal further than it already is," The boy's head turned to face the Chairman, "Now to make a Nopon fur coat,"

Myrtha sat opposite him as he cleaned parts of his armour. The boy had seemed lifeless, even after Pyra, he and Nia had escaped Jin and landed in Gormott. Now they were in Mor Ardain and Morag was helping them diffuse tension with the Artificial blade Poppi was mistaken for, that had attacked the city in the night. His eyes seemed void of light as he robotically cleaned each segment before placing it on the table between them. "Something bothering you Mythra?"

"No, not really, it's just, something seems like it's weighing you down,"

"That obvious?" He chuckled lowly, "It doesn't matter, you'd think I was crazy if I tried explaining it, plus I think I am going insane," That... was not a good sign, "Three times, I tried three times, I don't know what I did wrong the second time, then the third I solved it all quicker, but no, no I have to go through it a fourth time," Do what four times? "Morag comes through the door in three, two," On cue the Inquisitor came into the hotel room, smiling in a disarming manner. "Alright let's go," He stood up, replacing the salvager gear on his body.

"Go... where?"

"Well, the Artificial blade isn't Poppi and it must have a base nearby to attack so frequently, in order to prove it isn't Poppi, we need to find the place and take them down," Did this boy have any emotion? His flat way of speaking held not even a glimmer of hope, his eyes all but dead inside. "That was what you were going to say right Morag? We get to clear Poppi's name but we have to find them ourselves,"

"Uh, yeah, that's exactly," Already Rex had walked past her and knocked on the door of Nia's room.

"C'mon you two, we need to start moving, Morag will explain on the way,"

"Way to where?"

"Where they're hiding of course," Rex shrugged before heading towards the stairs.

The boy seemed clinically insane from Brighid's report after meeting him in Gormott. He'd walked up to the recruitment area, taken a core crystal and simply walked off with it. When soldiers and her Blade finally caught up to him, he was with a Blade associated with Torna, Dromarch she believed the name was. Which begged the question, where was the old Driver? A dangerous laugh filled the air as she quickly stood up. "Good work Oborona, Sever, Dromarch,make sure we aren't still being followed," Brighid handed her one of the duel whip swords. 

"What do you want?" She narrowed her eyes, the boy laughed as he came through the door.

"It doesn't matter," He chuckled, "It doesn't matter at all," One of the weapons of his blades formed in his hand. It intercepted Brighid's attack and he kicked her away, "I've fought you guys a hundred times, it doesn't matter, it never did, it never will," His eyes were shrunken and his smile twitching. "It doesn't matter if I tell you or not, you wou;dn't believe if I did and it won't change anything if I do, I'll just end up back there over and over and over again," Something angered him and he slashed the door in half in a single move, "I'll kill you!" Something told her the outcry wasn't aimed at her, "Once I figure out how to end this damming cycle I'll kill you!" She stepped backwards, "Morag, I've spent a hundred days dueling with you, as enemies, as friends, it makes no difference though, because I still know your moves,"

"What are you on,"

"Have you ever had deja vu before Morag? Felt like you've done the same thing before? Because I'm going through that, the last year has been the same two weeks played over and over and over again, no matter what I do, the fourteenth day ends and I'm back at day one!" He giggled "It doesn't matter see?" Her hand tightened around the hilt of her sword, "Oh, you don't believe me? That's okay, I'll prove it to you!" Him lunging at her was the last thing she saw.

Dromarch watched Rex move around practising his drills. It was odd for a boy his age to even know what drills were, let alone practise them in the habitual was the young salvager did. Nia came out of Connie's house and joined her Blade in watching him. The golden eyed boy just kept swinging the weapons, randomly swapping between Pyra, Mythra, Wulfric and Praxis's weapons. It was unbelievable the way he moved, as if he'd had been practising for several years. Mind, if the stories he told were true, the poor boy _had_ been training for years. Four, in fact. Going through the same fortnight over a hundred times must have taken a toll on his mental state. Dromarch felt guilt as he remembered the boy had spent six months insane. According to Rex, the only reason his sanity came back was because he had grown bored of it and began caring for the group he was repeatedly meeting for the first time. Nia felt it had something to do with the name he occasionally called Mythra and Pyra 'Pneuma' if her ears served correctly. Dromarch of course was reserved either way, Rex was clearly of sound mind right now, so it was difficult for him believe the boy had been insane at all. However his frightening accuracy at predicting when and where they'd meet people that didn't know him spoke for itself. Even those farces of Clairvoyants they had met on Fonsa Myma were needles in haystacks compared to his unwavering detailing of events. He'd even ousted Zeke von Genbu upon first meeting them despite never mentioning he had met the Tantal prince. In fact according to 'Gramps', the larvae titan living in his helmet when it wasn't in use, the two _hadn't_ met, Rex had never even heard of the man. It was a rather clear cut fact at this point that Rex had lived through the coming events, more than once if he was able to rememebr such mundane conversations as Zeke's reason for having a turtle as the mascot for his team. A team which only consisted of him and his Blade, Pandoria. The white lion was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice Nia's appearance shift until Rex was swinging her scimitar amongst the selection. With everything the boy said, he found himself believing in the tall tales. It was thanks to him that they had been able to talk things out with Morag in Gormott. Even that seemed like a perfectly rehearsed speech. Not to mention how he understood the abilities the Aegis Driver gained. His blue salvaging gear shifted for a minute, into white more angular armour. He heard Rex curse before it shimmered back to blue, the weapons were handed back and he trudged over to Connie's house, sitting down next to Dromarch as everyone went about their other things. "You have quite the skill in your weapons,"

"Thank you Dromarch, I have had a lot of time to practise,"

"Yes, you've mentioned, four years of the same two days,"

"Yes, well, three and a half, the first sixth months were spent falling in a state of not caring about my actions,"

"Until what?"

"I don't know, it's just I was making my way to the finish when Pneuma woke up of her own accord and tapped the core crytsal while talking to me about something I don't remember, next time I woke on Gramp's back, I had it implanted," A slight grimace, "And now I just have to keep going until I get it right," Dromarch's sympathy went out to the poor boy, he was only fifteen and had been cursed to an existance that even the worst demons didn't deserve. 

"What happens to us at every restart?"

"When you first arrived you were put into a time-space bubble, because I am sent back, I am not in there with you, the memories of these go arounds will appear as dreams for you, everything I do I will remember but you will treat as a nightmare or daydream, nothing truly gets erased, just written over, everytime a big change happens, such as Vandham surviving when he died on the original run, a change in the bubble occurs, such as Vandham's presence, he'll remember the run when he lived," Rex sighed, "You'll all remember slightly different things, for example when a new person lives and gets to the bubble, they'll remember the run where they got there, but no-one else will," A light grumble, "It's an annoying system because I can't stop fights in the bubble since I can't get in there, but I remember everything so I would defuse the situation,"

Pyra wasn't sure how she got there. One minute Addam was helping to seal her away and the next she was stood before this teen boy. He seemed tired, but not the sleep kind of tired. "Ah, that worked," He hummed, "Wonderful, hi, I'm Rex, your Driver, it's a bit hard to explain everything but," His gloved finger tapped a green X on his chest. Her eyes widened and she looked at her core crystal. Sure enough a piece was missing that was exactly the same as the piece in his chest. "I know Mythra and Pneuma too, so they don't need to worry about hiding away,"

"Pneuma?" His face changed,

"Oh, scrap, you don't know do you?" He grimaced "Of course you don't Addam wouldn't have time to understand that before he sealed you away," How... How did _he_ know about Addam? "You and Mythra told me about him, you guys had a lot of stories to share with me, in case you were wondering,"

"I'm sorry, Rex? But I don't remember,"

"You won't, chronologically we aren't supposed to meet yet, tomorrow evening you save my life by giving me half your life force while my body heals, over the next two weeks things happen and we try to save the world," He seemed to put a hand to the core on his chest expirementally.

"And how do you know this?" Pyra bristled and looked to her right. Mythra stood next to her. It wasn't a mirror or a projection either, Mythra was _standing_ next to her. The blonde looked over and was just as shocked, "Pyra?!"

"That worked?! I wasn't sure that was going to work," Rex laughed, "But the reason I know Mythra, is because I have lived through the next fortnight for about ten years,"

"Impossible,"

"Not for the Architect, he's put me in this loop for reasons only he knows, but so far I haven't gotten the conditions right to break the loop, honestly the idea to seperate you into two beings came about three loops ago, I've been trying to work out the exact parametres since,"

"So how old are you?"

"Well in the beginning I was fifteen, now I'm about," He hummed and ahhed for a moment, "If we take the times I wasn't learning or growing and just stubbornly going about the same things over and over, I'm about twenty-four mentally," Pyra's confusion must've translated to her face as Rex rubbed the back of his head, "I spent six months insane and another six just trying to collect different items, those... heh, they weren't my finest moments, but hey I'm here now," Mythra folded her arms as Pyra just stared in shock. They were both aware of the Foresight Mythra had fighting Malos before Torna had sunk, he seemed to be the boy she'd envisioned. Something about him was just, off compared to the boy now. His smile was still radiant and his eyes caring, but there was a light behind his joyous face that was slowly dying. Pyar quietly promised to, "Don't make a promise you can't keep Pyra,"

"W-what?"

"You were promising to help me in whatever you could, don't, in two weeks I'll be back in the same scenario, this adventure will be nothing but a dream to the prime Pyra and Mythra, except you might remember it because," He paused, "Oh Architect I'm a moron! You guys are going to remember this over the first one, you're seperate people now," That's probably not the answer I'm looking for but," A shrug "It's a win to me," Pyra smiled warmly, "Now come on, we have an adventure to go on! Gramps let's head to Argentum!"

"You got it Rex!" A voice croaked, Mythra's eyes widened as she turned around,

"Azurda?!"

Nia wasn't expecting to be kidnapepd in Argentum. She should've since she was with Torna, so it was her own fault but- "My Lady?!" Dromarch? Had he been taken too? She was about to call out to him when the blindfold was taken off her face. A boy, maybe fifteen, was beaming at her and her Blade.

"Nia," H-how did he, "I knew I could do it," Do what? "I'll let you go in five minutes, I just needed a way to make you listen to me," Architect, this guy was, "Insane? Yeah you've said that a lot to me when we first meet, it probably doesn't help that I _was_ insane for like, six months,"

"And you're not any more?" The boy backed away to sit on a bed, were they in the Inn?

"No, got bored of it, it's much more fun actually caring about people," He seemed alright, "Plus I had help to cope with the thing driving me insane," Tapping a green crystal imbeded in his chest he smiled warmly, "I'm kinda like you, except I'm a Blade Eater, kind of," From behind Nia and Dromarch, two people walked to his side, "This is Pyra and Mythra, they were a single Blade at one point, then I was able to seperate them, they gave me this,"

"I'm not..."

"You are a Flesh Eater, just like Jin, Patroka and Ahkos, Mikail is a Blade Eater made by Indol under the instruction of Praetor Amalthus, the only true Blade entity is Malos the Aegis and his core crystal is broken, please just, look, there's a lot to explain and I don't have time before they notice you're gone, I need you to just trust me, just for a few hours, tomorrow evening I know you'll believe me, please?"

"It was difficult for us too," The redhead admitted, "I'm Pyra, I understand that this situation is, odd, to say the least, and if you wish to leave, the door is just behind you," Nia tongued the inside of her cheek.

"Oh, I keep forgetting, my name is Rex," He finally introduced himself, "Sorry it's just, it's a lot more complicated than I have time to explain right now, but I've been living the next two weeks repeatedly for about," His eyes wondered to the roof before he pulled out a book and flicked through some pages, "Twelve years now,"

"So you're twenty-seven really?" He chuckled,

"No, I spent an entire year refusing to grow up so really I'm more like twenty-six, I know, look good for my age right?" Despite her concerns, Nia found herself smirking, "Look, I'll be honest, I understand your situation, probably more than you realize, because I've had to talk you out of it over a hundred times, please just, trust me, alright?"

"Anything else you want to tell me?"

"Uh, oh, yeah, at some point we're going to end up in Gormott, I need you to _not_ attack Inquisitor Morag, it's a bit harder to convince her of your innocence when I'm holding you back," Rex knelt down in front of her, drawing eye level as she sat on the stool. "I know you Nia, I know you a lot better than you realize right now, there's a gut feeling telling you I know you," How does he know that? "But you also need to know that I trust you Nia, everytime I've gone through this, you've only ever fought by my side, so if you start to worry, don't panic, I'll have your back," Something about his welcoming demeanour, the calming aura he radiated. Nia just couldn't _not_ trust him. 

Brighid hadn't seen a boy as fiery as Rex before. He weilded a one and a half handed sword, one of the most difficult weapons to learn. Yet he used it like it was an extension of his body. Not to mention how he would swap to the two handed giant sword of his other Blade mid battle and didn't even slow down. In Gormott he'd only used the red one and a half, but the moment they were in Uraya working as a team, the white double hander had come out. Impressive still, was when he used both at once. It was clear he didn't have as much practise, he wobbled and the follow through was harder to control, but he was able to do it. His creativity was apparant when he asked Pyra and Mythra if they could change the blades slightly so he could join the bottom of the handles together. Even Nia had been shocked at his innovation, using two Blades' weapons at once was exceptionally rare, _combining_ them was unheard of. Yet here they were, in the Garfront mercenaries training ground watching him get powered up by two Ether connections swinging an impractically large double bladed monster of a weapon around. Nia was enraptured as she watched the spectacle, Morag was there grumbling about ingenuity while staring at the handles of the swords she and Brighid used. The fire Blade was watching as the young looking Driver, watching as he treated Mythra's sword as a spear and Pyra's as an axe, swinging both around with almost reckless abandon. How in Alrest the boy had such skill was barely believable. Stuck in a repeating fortnight? It sounds like something straight out of a fantasy novel like machines that move on their own on wheels. If it was true, she pitied the boy because no-one deserved such a fate. Not even the warhawks demanding Mor Ardain try to take over Uraya. His beasty blade, Wulfric, was fighting him with his own spear, trying to help him learn. It was incredible how he seemed to pick it up so quickly. Though fifteen years of just the same two weeks would make you seem like a fast learner. Maybe Rex had more practise with a spear and axe than they realized and he was just translating them into the two double weapon he wielded. "He's a fast learner," The group looked to see Vandham, the leader of the Garfront Mercenaries, stood watching Rex behind them. "He picked up on my moves the moment we fought, it was startling that he'd know that, do you guys know?" Nia laughed,

"You wouldn't believe us if we told you, it's a bizarre story, we can barely believe it," She leaned back on her arms, Brighid nodded, picking up on her point.

"He's told all of us the same story and despite events being able to prove it, it just seems unbelievably well, unreal," The sapphire blade shook her head, "Rex has apparently been cursed to live the same two weeks over and over until he accomplishes the requirements to break out of the cycle, he says that it's been fifteen years to him since he was cursed, half a year was spent insane while the second half was taken to adapting to his situation, it appears everything he has at the end of the week goes back with him," Morag was snapped out of her revelry at the word and looked over.

"And that alone gives us reason to believe him, I mean, he has genuine deeds to stores across Alrest, core chips and accesories that aren't sold in the places he's been," A slight pause, "Somehow he even has the core chip Aegon uses currently despite it being an almost one of a kind chip, the likelyhood of him finding it is about as believeable as him getting it from Aegon himself," Brighid nodded, "Not to mention when we went to meet our Nopon friend, he didn't know anyone in the group and Rex somehow not only knew exactly what he needed but also had the items to hand that allowed Tora to complete Poppi's construction," Vandham stood for a minute before looking at Rex again, watching him move.

"I believe it," That was surprising, "I mean, look at him, he's fighting with experience any fifteen year old shouldn't have, even if the Titan that took care of him taught him, the way he fights, it's more like some of the mercenaries around here than a teenager in Alrest," Dromarch purred from Nia's other side,

"You aren't wrong,"

Vandham wasn't a religious man, never had been. Though when a fifteen year old boy had _two_ Blades with emerald core crystals, was able to manipulate ether in such a way he could put the two weapons together and weild them both at once. Well, he wasn't so sure anymore. Not to mention how the kid somehow knew his name yet admitted to not knowing the Garfront Mercenaries. Then the Special Inquisitor of Mor Ardain was under _his_ protection while in Uraya instead of him being her charge. One of the more shockin parts was the fact he could dispell miasma with a single hand. The grey haired mercenary was begining to wonder if maybe the Architect and Elysium was real, and maybe he was playing a divine prank. Until they arrived to Fonsa Myma and Rex explained everything when they went to meet Cole. The young Driver had inspected the Flesh Eater's core crystal, taking down notes in a rather crammed book. Vanham was about to offer him his, when to his shock, Rex reached into a different pocket and pulled it out anyway. Both he and Cole has paused, studying the book. A stain from a drink on the front cover, some pages missing from where he'd ripped out some pages for either security or to give to someone else. The selling feature however, was the signature on the lower right corner of the first page. _Vandham_ in cursive with a rendition of Roc's scythes as the n. That was definitely his notebook. Except the pages of his notes had been torn out and now it was full of Rex's hand writing. Expirementally Rex seemed to poke Cole's core crystal, the pink shrunk slightly as the man smiled from relief. There was a hmm from the Aegises' Drivers. More notes were taken down before he handed the book to Mythra and Nia, "What do you think?" Both of them blinked in shock reading over the working. Nia especially seemed surprised.

"H-how long have you been working on this?" Her ears bent backwards.

"Ten years," What? The kid was stuck in a loop of two weeks, yet he'd managed to come up with something that shocked the blonde Aegis?! "I mean, yeah, about that, I'm in the twentieth year of this, and around the tenth I wanted to figure out a better solution for Cole's situation than just mixing human medicine with Ether treatments," Something in Vandham told him that wasn't the only reason, but he wasn't going to confront the boy. He was cursed enough, reliving the same two weeks over and over, introducing himself to the people he'd already spent days travelling with, Vandham wasn't about to make the boy explain something he had done during that hellish torture.

"I mean, it very well might, the worst that could happen is he becomes less Blade," Mythra tilted the book as Pyra leaned in to read it curiously. Her own eyes widened as she looked to Rex in shock. Vandham admired the way they communicated without speaking, instead just making eye contact before the redhead nodded. Together the two Aegises and their Driver were stood before Cole. Rex took of their hands each as they extended their free hands, both putting a finger to Cole's bicoloured crystal. The pink and blue began to swirl until it changed colour entirely. The trio stepped back, Cole's crystal was now a stormy grey.

"What did you do?" Morag stepped backwards, Rex rubbed the back of his head.

"Well, Blades utilize Ether to make Arts, but they collect Ether at a slower rate than biological beings, the Ether connection is a two way feed, the Blade actually pulls it from the Driver, turns it into something that can be used during and Art and sends it back to the Driver, which is why you can't just keep using nothing but Arts, it takes time to transform the Ether, a Flesh Eater and a Blade Eater are similar answers to the problem this poses, by introducing a core crystal to a biological system is it able to collect and transform Ether in a brand new almost self sufficient system, almost because it actually puts out the tiniest bit more than it draws in, a Blade transforms the Ether both they and the Driver collects inside their core crystal which means,"

"An core crystal absorbs more Ether than a Driver collects," Morag's brow furrowed, "So what did you come up with?"

"I balanced it out," Rex took his notebook back as Vandhamfelt his mouth drop, "I'm sorry Cole but I had to reduce the absorbtion rate of your crystal, now it will transform less Ether than you draw in, allowing your body to heal from the Ether defecit the constant draining caused," The notebook was turned to them, covered in equations and symbols Vandam wouldn't admit he didn't understand. "It's the same for a Blade Eater, but the only ones I've met are Mikhail and Zeka but I don't want to try with Zeke's half a core crystal and Mikhail currently wouldn't let me do that on his and my life,"

"But why is it grey?"

"Oh, that, I don't quite know, I wanted Cole to keep being his own individual instead of a Blade for me and when I said yes the core turned grey," Morag pursed her lips but said nothing. Vandham laughed,

"You are full of surprises kid,"

"Vandham, I'm thirty-four,"

Mythra looked at her new Driver's face, somehow she'd gone from the recesses of the mind she shared with Pyra, to stood next to the redhead on Azurda's back. Between them was a girl with mint green hair that looked like yet another version of them. "Pneuma," Her Driver's voice was soft as the mint haired girl looked around, "Pneuma it finally worked," She looked up at him.

"I'm sorry but, who are you two?" Pyra spoke from Pneuma's other side.

"I'm Rex, you are Pyra and Mythra, this is Pneuma, I'm your Driver, I have been for several years, but it won't seem like that to you because it's the beginning of the fortnight," What? "Tomorrow night you would've saved my life by sharing half your life force with me, in Uraya Mythra would've got involved in a fight against Malos and then we'd go to the Cliffs of Morytha where Pneuma awakens and helps defeat Ophion and Malos once he restored his full power," Mythra inhaled softly, Malos, at full power again? She couldn't let that happen. "After we scale the World Tree I end up getting sent back so I run through that door," He pointed behind them, the blonde looked to see a small hut. No way Azurda had let the kid build a home on his back. "Azurda and I are family Mythra, more than Addam and he were, Azurda's taken care of me since I was a baby," His eyes misted over, "My folks died when I was a baby, Connie took care of me and Azurda has been a grandfather figure the entire time,"

"H-how, how old are you?" Pneuma seemed just as confused the Blades either side of her,

"I look about fifteen, but I'm really about forty five, for the last thirty-one years I've been trapped reliving the next fortnight over and over again," Mythra looked to Pyra, they shared a look of confusion and disbelief. Pneuma however stepped forwards and poked Rex's chest. Wait. Looking at Pyra's core crystal and then down to her own, she saw a piece missing, an X that now sat in Rex's chest. Pneuma's finger retracted as she gasped softly "Wait you can do that?!" The mint haired girl turned to them and revealed she had the same core crystal with the same piece missing. "I feel I should explain, Mythra, you aren't an Aegis, you were a facet of her, designed to fulfil Addams wish when he Awakened you, someone who could help stop Malos's destruction, you then made Pyra as a self to help come to terms with what you did, in a sense, you two are twin sisters, while Pneuma would be kind of like your older sister,"

"You say you've been doing it for thirty-one years?"

"Yup," Rex brough out a small notepad, flipping through some pages he revealed a tally chart spanning several pages. "One mark used to represent a fortnight, then I got to a year and it was one every four times, then I hit five years and make a seperate chart to keep track of years as well," Mythra found herself believing the story more and more, "But this time I wanted to try something different," From his back he unlatched a rather long gun, "This is an Ardanian sniper Morag let me have when we went to Mor Ardain about two rounds ago, last time I used it to get Bana from a safe distance in his Artificial Blade factory, this time there's a different target in mind," In a rather disconcerting demonstration he pulled the gun apart, "I modified it after getting Bana so now it only shoots a bullet made from ore in Uraya, which I also collected last time we went, it took a while to refine the shape but Agate had me covered," Who was that? And why did Mythra had the slightest feeling she knew the answer to that.

"Who are you goin going to-," She began before Pneuma turned around,

"You were serious?"

"I made Nia a promise last time that I'd do it," The gun was put together and loaded with a metallic _chuklink_ "I intend to keep that promise,"

"Who's the, the target this time?" Pyra voiced quietly, Rex looked at a charm on his wrist.

"Preator Amalthus,"

Jin knew a lot of things. Or he thought he did. When he saw that Amalthus had been killed in the Praetorium, in the middle of the day. It made him curious, when it was released that the weapon was Ardanian, but the bullet was made of an ore exclusively found in an Urayan quarry, he was interested. After learning that the shooter had been seen wearing Indolian armour covering their face and taken the shot from a tower only Indolians were allowed into, he became determined to find out who it was. The only thing they had found was a message carved into the ground nearby. _Hi Mikail, Nia_. Of course the Flesh Eater and Blade Eater had been celebrating until they heard the message. Since both were relatively unknown faces Uraya, Indoline and Mor Ardain had decided it was simple graffiti before the shooter had arrived. That didn't stop the two from speculating as to who it could've been. Until a second part of the message was released, which sent chills even down Jin's spine. _Azurda_ _was here too_. Malos had found the whole thing hilarious and laughed for a day straight. Torna as a whole kept up the search for Mythra/Pyra of course, going to Argentum to meet a Leftherian salvager. Rex if the Nopon's drivel was in any way accurate. The salvager turned and nodded curtly in greeting. "A child salvager? Don't te-," Nia began laughing

"I'm fifty thank you young 'un, I know looking good for my age right?" He laughed "It's just what proper exercise can do for ya," Jin smirked lightly at him, "Nah I'm messing, I'm just twenty, but it's thanks to being a salvager I look so young, pressure keeps my spine from extending," Malos chuckled darkly,

"Twenty? That means you must know," He charged Rex, "Something!" Immediately the blade was knocked away and he was kicked back. In a fluid motion Rex managed to put the weapon away, put distance between them and climb onto a higher perch, pulling out a sniper rifle like the Ardanians used. "Test me guy, I got special rounds in this thing, modified it myself, go right through your little Tornan armour there," That caught Jin's attention. A bolt clicked into place, "Went through Amalthus nice and easy,"

"That was you?!" He found himself crying out before he could stop himself, the sights were trained on him,

"What if it was guy? I've got enough rounds to put one in each of you so you don't need to worry about getting a piece," 

"Well would you look at that, now we just need Mythra and everything's done and dusted," Malos smiled,

"I didn't want to believe it when he told me," The gun was aimed at Malos as Jin turned to the door. He did a double take as he swore both Mythra _and_ Pyra were stood there. 

"Don't move Malos," Rex warned, Jin was beginning to think they'd been outsmarted, "Sever you don't either, these will cut Ether connections, unless you wanna disappear into your crystal, neither move,"

"You're with _him_?" That was Pyra's voice instead of Mythra's but Mythra had spoken first. He saw Mythra stood with a hand on her hip as Pyra appeared from behind her, confirming they were no longer the same person. "After everything he did,"

"Things have changed since you were sealed, the world changed,"

"Enough for you to side with _him_?!" Mythra demanded angrily, "What would change enough for that? What would Lora think?!" That struck a cord in him, yet he remained stoic, "There is no hope for Alrest anymore, they are not worth defending after everything I have seen, it's been five centuries since I last saw you, _either_ of you, Lora is dead, why do you think I am a Flesh Eater? This world should not be allowed to continue,"

"And who are you to decide that?" Rex growled lowly, "You haven't met half the population and made a generalisation of the bad half, news flash buddy, _you_ are part of that half," A third person walked in, between Pyra and Myrtha. Dressed in blue, white and black with mint green hair. Malos laughed,

"Oh, someone finally managed to drag her out huh?" He clutched the tonfa in his hand and crouched.

**BANG**

The man dropped as Sever glowed before dropping to his core crystal. "I said don't move asshole," Jin stared in shock at Malos's unmoving form, slowly it began to glow and moved into a broken core crystal. He turned to Rex as there was a sudden burst of wind. Pyra, Mythra and the third woman each surrounded him, holding a blade at him. The third seemed to be a more advanced version of Mythra's blade, similar to the one she used against Malos those centuries ago. Rex's gun reaimed at him, focusing on his core crystal. "Bana, you move and I'll be making a Nopon fur coat, Nia, don't move, I'll explain later, Jin," A heavy sigh, "I want you to move, I really do, but it's not fair to talk like that, not when I know you've been through hell to become so jaded, you can either stand down and listen or listen with three swords and a gun to your head," Lifting his hand, he slowly lifted the mask from his face. "Good, now let's talk,"

Nia stared into his unflinching eyes. "How old are you then?" A hand was waved,

"Sixty, sixty-five, it's beginning to blur, have I told you my name yet?" The fact he seemed genuinely unsure both horrified and confused her.

"Yes, you told me five minutes ago,"

"Minutes don't really mean anything to me anymore, I don't feel seconds, hell I'm barely keeping track of the dates, they're just day one to day fourteen now," That sounded oddly sad, "When you're living the same two weeks, it becomes redundant don't you think?" Rex sighed as he cleaned the gun, "Anyway, I've had a lot of practise with this thing, that's why I only knocked off Malo's weapon from his hand, a warning shot," She giggled, thinking of how shocked Malos had been to find his weapon skittering across the floor only a step into his charge. They'd barely met Rex today, the afternoon in fact. It had been an evening in the Rumbletum Canteen with an all you can eat invitation from the surprisingly wealthy boy. Then again, since he was living the same two weeks over and over, he could find the best places to salvage and get rich super quick. "Everything on my body I take back with me, so don't worry about me going broke, I've got the gold saved up from the last," He paused, "Shit gimme a second," A book was pulled out and laid on the table as Nia helped herself to more food. "Alright so if I've done sixty-five years, that's... fuck, fifty by sixty, two by sixty, by five, same again, that's three thousand three hundred and eighty weeks, by seven is the total days, I spent two days a week salvaging so times by two? No, that won't work, divide by two that's it," Nia leaned in to see a lot of calculations over the page as Rex sat back up straight. "No, no, that's just half, two sevenths, that's what I multiply by," A pause, "Is it?" He scribble the whole thing out. "Let's just say I've spent a whole lot of time salvaging and selling, then whatever gold I carry through to the start I keep so," Nia pursed her lips, this guy could find the best items to salvage, make a quick buck, move to the next place and start again, slowly turning himself into the richest man in Alrest for the two weeks he existed. Not to mention, when the whole time loop thing stopped, he'd be set for life. She jumped as he smacked his head, "I could've just muliplied three thousand whatever by two!" A light groan before he shook his head, "Nevermind, anyway, I know it's probably hard to believe, you never really do if I'm honest, but that's alright, so long as you trust me to watch your back, with Mythra, Pyra and Pneuma too, not to mention Wulfric, Roc, Vandham, Brighid, Morag, Tora, Poppi, Agate, Percival, Mikail and Cressidus, we'll be able to talk Jin and Malos down easy,"

"Talk them down? Malos is,"

"Corrupted," Rex shook his head, "I don't quite get it either, but something about the fact he isn't really a Blade but he was awoken like one? I don't quite understand that part but I do trust Pneuma, and she seems to know what she's on about," He shook his head, "There's a lot I need to work on now, I don't know if I'll get in this run,"

"What do you have to do?" The book was taken as he pulled out a new one, opening it up to the first page.

"This is something you got me forty years ago, some two thousand runs ago, you gave it to me to help me eliminate possibilities to end the loops, I've been using it to keep track of jobs and favours people have asked me," She flipped through the first few pages. It looked almost like a directory of missions Torna used.

"Are you serious? There's more than a lifetime of missions here, most of them rely on collecting information and items, how are you going to-, oh," His look told her everything, "You aren't going to end it this time are you?"

"No, I can't, there's way to much to do, so I need to prepare literally everything, once I can pass the info and items along before starting it, I'll put a tick, once they're all ticked off, I'll spend the two weeks doing them while getting to the world tree,"

"Are you sure it will work?"

"No,"

Mikhail was angry, of course he would be! Rex had a chance to kill Amalthus and he didn't! Did the guy know what he had done to Torna's survivors, to _him_? Now they were standing in the Preatorium talking to the bastard as if they were old friends. Rex had managed to convince him to join them back in the Nopon's ripoff shop. There was a locket around his neck that had a picture of his friends from Torna, along with Mythra pleading with him it made him pause long enough for Patroka to leave him behind. Despite that, they didn't fight him, didn't attack him. Rex had reintroduced himself, holding a hand out confidently, apologizing for taking too long. The brunette admitted to being older than he appeared. About seventy were his words, who forgets their own age?! They offered him a chance to change the world for the better, without destroying things liks Torna was. His blue core crystal had been turned the same red as his armour after Rex tapped it. Somehow that stopped the pain being a Blade Eater had given him. His attacked felt weaker but he was willing to pay that price if it meant the pain stopped. That in mind he could still make an Ether connection to Rex and his attacks increased monumentally. once they had finished in Mor Ardain they had been invited to Indol by Haze, who called herself Fan la Norne. On their way he had taken Mikhail aside and the two discussed what had happened. His belief in Rex's story was cemented as he pulled out a booklet and rattled off information on Mikhail and Mythra would remember, asking him to add to it and fill blanks. By the time the reached Indol Mikail had to admit he didn't know more and Rex made a note to not ask him on anymore runs. The rather large group now collected in front of Amalthus and Mikail found himself burning with rage. Not an hour ago he'd been told by Rex himself, how he had an opportunity to shoot the bastard and get away with it, but he didn't take it! Now they were playing a game of word chess. "Amalthus, are you afraid of change?"

"I- what?"

"Are you afraid of change? Anything that deviates from what you know, you don't like, even if you did it," Rex put his hands behind his back, holding Mikhail's locket in one hand and Nia's bracelet in the other. The Gormotti like blade took a deep breath, her yellow crystal glowing lightly. Apparently Rex had solved her Flesh Eater problem back when the dup crash landed on Gormott. 

"If I was?"

"I'd understand, when things change you are unsure of what to do, afraid you will no longer be yourself if you change," Amalthus paused,

"You claim to understand me?"

"No, I just know how you feel," Mikhail watched the Praetor's face change in concealed anger, "I lost both my parents when I was a baby, never got to know them, the Titan we arrived on is the only realy family I have right now, Leftheria was nice but they aren't close to me like Azurda is, I've seen some close friends die to protect the people they care about, people ready to sacrifice everything for their convictions, I've seen madmen lay waste to cities because they wanted to or because they believe it was necassary,"

"You... are older than you appear," Rex nodded,

"Yup, I learned that focusing on negatives will only lead you down a dark path," A hand was extended "Amalthus, come with us, meet the Architect and ask him yourself, I know you have questions," Mikhail was the picture of anger,

"Rex," The hand was slapped down, "Do you know who you're talking to? Do you know what he did? To refugees, to _me_?!"

"I do, honestly I do, Mikhail listen to me, I'm not askign you to forgive him and I'm not asking him to get along with us, I'm asking him to come and get the true answers instead of destroying Alrest as the answer,"

"You dare accuse me-"

"I have seen your plans Amalthus, I know your plan on using half of Haze's core crystal anmplifying your control to titans and getting them to destroy the World Tree and all of Alrest," Rex countered "I also know that because you awoke Malos, you are the reason his mind has corrupted to the stage it is at, your brewing hatred for the world is what caused him to desire wanton destruction," Mikhail paused, if Amalthus was truly to blame for all of this, he had more reason to die than anyone else. "So I put it to you, either come with us on our journey, find the answers for yourself," Everyone edged away from his growl " _Or fail trying to stop us_ ," Nobody moved, "I have lived long enough to understand anger and hatred are not the answer, either give them up or fall into darkness and perish becoming the monster you despise,"

"I will not be threatened,"

"I am not threatening you Amalthus, I have _seen_ your downfall over a thousand times, over a hundred different ways, now I give you the chance to prevent it or die fighting against the very ideals you swore your life to uphold," The party knew Rex was telling the truth Amalthus barked from his seat,

"You know not of what you speak _hu_ -,"

"I know exactly what I speak of, _Praetor_ , I am an Aegis driver just as you were, except I have been one arguably a lot longer since Malos severed his connection to you centuries ago,"

"You think I would allow him to walk unrestrained? Please I let him do what he wants so long as it benefits _me_ ,"

"Then you are a traitor to not only Indoline but to Alrest itself," Amalthus' body jerked as something pinged through his heart. Blood seeped into his clothing and spilled down the back of his chair. His eyes shrunk and fixed onto Rex, who remained stoic. The body slumped over and fell out of the throne. Rex turned into Pneuma and turned around. "We should leave, quickly, Rex will meet us at Azurda," There was something akin to respect growing in Mikhail for the guy now.

Malos stared as the boy caught his tonfa with his bare hand. "You should come at me with your own weapon if you plan to kill me Aegis," Golden eyes fixed onto his as the tonfa dispersed and appeared in the kid's hand, "Sorry, do you prefer Malos?" The now empty hand tore the cover of his broken core crystal off. In the same movement one of his fingers was dragged across the purple jem. "Or was that _Logos_?" His mind cleared as the core crystal was restored, only to get kicked in the gut. "Now, are you to charge me with your own weapon or another attempt to immitate your previous power?"

"You litte brat," Trying to power up an Art he found the connection to Amalthus was gone. The old geezer hadn't been aware of the connection so there was no way he could've-

"Still corrupted, that's going to take more time to solve I guess, ah well, I have an eternity to work on it,"

"You... you broke my connection,"

"Oh I did more than that," He had enough gall to rub a temple, "I've just managed to solve a major headache I was having over your crystal, do you know how many years it to understand that shit? I just spent the best part of maybe thirty years trying to understand what the fuck you are Logos, I'm still not sure I understand and there's no more material for me to study,"

"Why give me back my power?"

"Because, I need your help to get Ontos back," Why did he know that name? How could the _kid_ know that name? "Or at least get his attention, Pneuma alone can't do it," Another name he should now, that makes three. "Or Mythra as you used to know her,"

"Speaking of the Aegis, why have you come in her stead?" Ahkos drawled, "We said that,"

"Except you don't have her, I know you don't have her,"

"Oberona,"

"I wrote that letter dipshit, Oberona is with the party right now, enjoying a chat with Mythra, she was rather happy after I reawakened her," Ahkos frowned, "Did you not know that? I can reseal Blades without killing the Driver, it's an ability Pneuma calls Hard Reset, i just gave Logos here a Soft Reset, breaking the connection to Amalthus he was drawing on, don't worry, she has all her memories, I was able to restore them with another ability Pneuma has, called the Cloud, it also came with the memories of her other Awakenings, she's most displeased with the stuff you tricked her into doing," Malos snarled "And besides Mythra and Pyra are right here," With a wave, both girls walked into the Playhouse. "Pneuma's a bit further back, but that's because she's setting it up with the Nopon Archsage, don't, even I have no clue who the bastard is," Rex shook his head.

"You seperated them?"

"Yes, as they were all distinct personalities, I could do the same for you, except I'd need the true Logos to make an appearance, you are merely Amalthus' desire for destruction given form and the power of an Aegis core," Ahkos raised his bow, "Please Flesh Eater, I healed Cole, I can take you,"

"You bastard," The arm was tensed but nothing moved,

"Good, now come with me, I need to find an arse to kick,"

Dromarch knew the boy was trustworthy. There was just an aura from the boy, something about him, a fire in his eyes saying he wouldn't give up, no matter how many times he failed, he'd keep going until he succeeded. Already Malos had begun feeling uneasy around him, Jin seemed wary too. Yet Dromarch found himself drawn towards the boy's warmth and he knew that it was in part due to Nia's affliction to the boy. Or man. He claimed to be twenty yet appeared five years too young for that age. Right now the white lion sat at a table nearby the pair of Drivers, along with the boy's three Blades he chose not to bring with him into the meeting with the Nopon. Pneuma, Mythra and Pyra were their names. Currently they were all enjoying varying dishes from the shops around Argentum in the Rumbletum Canteen. He was currently awaiting to see the fourth Blade to the weapon he carried. A blue blade going from his shoulder to his opposite hip. Pyra's weapon was the one sitting on the back of his hip, while Pneuma and Mythra's were sat on either thigh, all three unengaged. The one on his shoulder did not have an owner it appeared, it was rather large though. And just after the hilt was what appeared to be a large hole in the sword. Dromarch felt it was a bit dangerous to have such a feature on a sword. "That's a Monado," Pneuma muttered, he snapped his head back as the mint haired girl smiled, "I need to hold back a bit less and he will activate the Monado form of my weapon,"

"Your's will turn into that?"

"Something similar, it will definitely have the glass plate though, all Monados do,"

"And how many Monados are there?"

"Only three," And Rex currently held two, an impressive feat. "Malos wields the third and though his power is greatly dimished, his blade has retained the window, suggesting he does not limit himself in battle,"

"Does Rex want the third one?"

"I don't know, currently he is attempting to help everyone in Alrest before his two weeks are up,"

"He had not long left to live?" That is unfortunate,

"No, that's not it, no, Rex claims he is trapped in some sort of time loop and given that he has that Monado, I have reason to doubt he is lying, in thirteen days, he will be sent back to yesterday and forced to repeat the coming fortnight," Even worse to Dromarch, what an acursed existence. Never progressing beyond a certain point, aware your hard work would become undone, it would drive any poor man insane,"

"It did," Pyra spoke quietly, "Drive him insane that is,"

"Was it that obvious?" 

"Yeah, but don't worry, Rex has been of sound mind for what," The redhead and blonde looked at the greenette.

"I don't know, he hasn't updated me since the run when he _got_ the Monado,"

"Which was about two months ago," Rex's voice made them all jump, "Spilling my secrets are we Pneuma?"

"Just making sure Dromarch was in the loop," She responded plainly,

"Well, it's been eight runs since I got this treasure and I'm still getting used to it, but I'm getting better, anyway, to answer you question Dromarch, I have been of sane mind for oh, a hundred and ten years, there or there about, honestly it's getting blurier and blurier," He waved a hand "It stared getting blurry at sixty-ish, so it's not surprising it's been almost another sixty and it's gotten worse,"

"But you said,"

"I am, Dromarch," He didn't remember introducing himself to the boy,

"Just because he repeats the days, doesn't mean he can't count them," Nia seemed to eye him, worriedly, "He's gone through the same two weeks over five thousand times,"

"I've had close to six thousand runs now," Rex shook his head, "Hang on," Walking over to a random pair of people, he began talkign to them before handing them an item. Returning to the group he smiled "They owe me a favor now and we'll be meeting them in," He paused to listen to them. Dromarch heard them discussing dinner options, settling on noodles, "Mor Ardain,"

"You got that from their dinner choice?"

"Yeah, if they'd picked the fish they would be in Gormott, it's not the future to me remember and ths past has already happened so,"

"It's possible to accurately know what would happen in the past even though to us it's the future," Rex nodded with a smile.

"Now to start, we're going to need to get Mikhail and Cressidus with us, if we can get them before Mor Ardain the better because Amalthus needs a lot of work convincing and those two aren't helpful emanating fury and hatred to the guy we need to outthink, been there, done that, got the shirt," His hands crossed "It's not easy,"

"If I can just ask, how many more 'runs' do you think getting out of this will take?"

"I don't know, but the closer I get, the longer it'll take to find out the last pieces of the puzzle, it could take any amount of time, but I do have eternity to get it right so," He shrugged "As long as I save Alrest, there's not much else I need to worry about,"

His appearance was that of a twenty year old. Somehow he gave off the aura of someone much older than that, and with his story of endless loops, it actually fit. Honestly she wondered how he would look if his true age showed through, but this time he was just a twenty year old guy. He'd spent the decades of fornightly deja vu as the opportunity to master skills in the background. Cooking with Pyra, social skills with Mythra and impressively, the Master Driver skills with Pneuma. Alongside botany, agronomy, entomology and other skills that used and increased general knowledge, hell he'd taught some of them a few things about salvaging. Nia smiled as she felt his arm wrap around her. For some reason he insisted they all pile into a single room for the night, and when the full Blades had entered, they had returned to their core crystals. Of course everyone panicked, Morag especially when Brighid disappeared. Until Rex explained how they had simply been but into sleep mode. Something he'd been taught by Pneuma, who had also returned to her core crystal, along with Mythra and Pyra. Oddly there was one core crystal for the three of them at the moment, something he refused to explain for the 'millionth' time. Now they laid in one of the four beds, Morag, Zeke and Tora all having their own beds, Mikhail had taken the rollmat insisting he was more comfortable on them. A snowstorm whirled outside and Nia remembered how long it had taken to discuss what was going on with the king. Zeke's _dad_. That was yet another thing to think about, yet Rex's position took way more priority. Rolling over to look at his sleeping face, she rested a hand on his cheek. "Fucking hell you are freezing," He whispered, much to her utter embarrasment. He rolled onto his side, his other arm moving over her. "Come here," The blankets were pulled up further, 

"Thank you," She basked in the sudden increase in heat,

"It's alright,"

"So, how many runs have you done now? You told me you were trapped for a long time but you never expanded back in Argentum,"

"Oh, sorry," He sighed, "I guess I forgot to tell you this time and then we were busy in Gormott and Mor Ardain, then Amalthus wanted to meet us and we got those days off in Leftheria and I guess it slipped my mind, if you can't tell I'm stalling right now as I do the maths," His shoulder shrugged, "I don't know, two lifetimes, considering a liftetime is a hundred years, two hundred years times that by thirty six, about six thousand four hundred times, I've become really good at maths if you can't tell," She giggled lightly,

"And how many involved romance?"

"With who? Anyone? Because I haven't bothered with many, there were a few Gormotti wanting to thank me for getting rid of the Ardainian presence when I did that for half a year," Her lips pursed, "There was a time Morag and I were together, as you can guess it was short lived and I've been trying to get her and Brighid to be honest for over a decade now, same with Zeke and Pandoria, I had a romance with Pyra, Mythra, Kasandra, Praxis _and_ Theory, which reminds me, I need to get those two before we head to the World Tree,"

"I'm guessing those are blades?"

"Yeah," She raised an eyebrow, "What, I was lonely and they're hot and I still have the hormonal brain of a fifteen year old, but nothing ever did get sexual, I managed to get T-elos and KOS-MOS together in one run, but I never had a success after that," He kept musing, "I'm more match maker than matcher but honestly can you blame me? That reminds me Kora, Sheba and Adenine all had the hots for you in a couple runs but I could never convince them to do anything, plus with every new run, feelings are reset and nothing goes exactly to plan with emotions, the only steadfast thing is everyone becomes family, no matter who joins in when," Nia smiled into his chest, "Then there's the fact I almost managed to get Mikhail and Patroka together, she is such a Tsundere in every run," She giggled into his chest, enjoying when his arms tightened around her, "Each romance I've ever had has lasted exactly two weeks before my partner forgets who I am entirely and I'm back to a blank slate, at this point I just want to figure out how to take someone with me through the loops but then I realize I'd just be cursing someone else to join me in this cyclical hell,"

"It'd be more bearable though,"

"No, I get to spend eternity with the same people I care about, sure they forget me twice a month but we're always having fun and fighting bad guys together, I guess it would feel less lonely if I had someone join me but, well I don't want to curse them like that,"

"And if they dove in willingly?"

"I'd call you the most lovable and caring idiot in Alrest and I'd tell you to leave it to me," Pulling back she looked at him, "You already did it Nia, I got you for six of the most perfect weeks of my life, but it began effecting you the wrong ways, you showed the symptoms I did and there was no way to make sure I got out with my memories intact and you stayed with me," His eyes grew misty, "So I made sure to be just far enough ahead to make sure only I got sent back, you never understood why I made sure to go through every door first and told you to wait outside for five seconds, but by the time we got under Elysium, you weren't risking it and I had to bolt as fast as I could," Lifting herself eye level with him, she rested a hand on his cheek again, "You pleaded with me the entire race as we left the others behind, begging me to let you catch up, but I couldn't, I wouldn't, if you had gone another two weeks your mind would've snapped and the you currently in the bubble would go insane, I couldn't risk everyone to keep you, I wouldn't let you break yourself for me," To call her shocked was an understatemtent, but it was almost an automatic response to pull him into her for a tight hug. 

"How many runs since?"

"I left you behind last time I went through the door," Her hand curled up the back of his head, "I couldn't let you suffer anymore," Gently she held him against her chest as he hugged her. "Never in eternity will I let you suffer like that again, even if it dooms me to one without you,"

Patroka knew something was up the moment the Jin, Malos and Nia arrived without the kid. It wasn't like she cared about him, he was a snot nosed brat. But even Jin had lines he wouldn't cross right? Apparently not, judging by how shaken Nia looked. They moved the container, quietly ready to board the Marsanes that would arrive soon. Only for a red dot to appear on the top and a sudden beam of light to shoot from the clouds to destroy it. She guessed the Architect really didn't want them to get the Aegis. "Y'know," Nia gasped as Jin tensed and Malos sneered, "Every time we go down there, I wonder if this is the time you hesitate, but no, every single time, you have to go back on the honor or your sword and _stab me in the back_ , like the pathetic coward you are, how about this time _Paragon of Torna_ , you look a man in the eyes when you kill him?"

"You little-," Malos roared as he charged, only to get his sword blocked and a fist into his face,

"Stay out of it _Logos_ ," In one hand the salvager held an intricate etherial blue sword just after the hilt was a circular hole. The other hand held a second sword, this one teal and green, the handle led directly into the circle. On the opposite side the blade formed, two angular parts moved to cover the sides of the circle as the blade opened to become a brilliant beam. The etherial one slowly changed colour to orange as the salvager let Malos get up and put distance between them. Patroka stared as Malos gripped his tonfa, clearly on the back foot. "I thought I told you, come at me with your Monado or don't fight at all," Even she was beginning to think the kid was more powerful than they had thought, "Nia, get behind me," The gormotti seemed relieved the boy lived and moved with Dromarch out of the way. Right now Patroka couldn't be upset, she'd be hesitant to piss this guy off too. "Jin, you have once chance to explain before I let Mythra talk to you, she isn't happy," An hail of arrows soared over head, no doubt fired by, "Akhos!" Patroka paled, there was no way this kid could, "Just firing a thousand shots, doesn't make up for your total lack of accuracy," An Ether shield formed and stopped every arrow that would've hit him, letting the other's land harmlessly in the surface. "Now Malos, you've got yout crystal, you severed your connection, what else do you want?"

"Right now? You're damn head on a platter brat!"

"Neh-er," A mimic buzzer sound, "Sorry Malos, the correct answer was, to go see the Architect, that means you lose tonights big game and you know what that means," Patroka watched as Malos dropped the Tonfa and his own sword formed. It was almost bizarre how it also head a circle in it. Except it had a golden wheel filling it and part of the blade on top hung down to the centre of it. "Hard Reset," That didn't sound omninous at all. No, not in the slightest. She was so paralyzed she didn't even realize the salvager was in front of her before he'd tapped her core crystal. Then he was gone again and she felt not only scared, but also significantly lighter. Checking her core crystal it had gone from the blue pink mess, to a radiant white.

"Don't worry Patroka, you may feel a tiny bit weaker but that's because he's balanced out your Ether flow," A woman spoke from behind her, "You'll live a long life and be able to have your family, if Rex has helped you with the pain of your core crystal, it is an invite to join our family,"

"And why would I join you?" She spat at the woman "What are you planning on doing? Sinking the rest of the Titans?"

"No, truthfully I am trying to get to Elysium to beg the Architect for death, because I can not live with the guilt of what Mythra did with my powers, and yet I can not die by any normal means, even breaking my crystal would only leave me weakened," A hand was outstretched, "However Rex seems determined to not let me die and if he has invited you, he won't let you die either,"

"What about Ahkos?"

"Rex already knows that Ahkos and Mikhail will join us on our adventure within the next two weeks, in fact the only one he is unsure of is you, so, what is your answer?" Patroka looked back at the salvager, now named Rex. He was defending Nia against Jin while also fending off Malos, despite the anger in his face, whenever he attacked, it was never to kill. There was a lot of ways this could turn out against her, but at this point, she didn't have much to lose. Facing the green haird woman again, Patroka took the hand.

To say Morag was suprised would be an understatement. This Rex had let Brighid find them and said they needed to talk. Even with two members of Torna in his midst and _three_ emerald core crystal Blades, he acted as if there weren't five or six weapons and the Jewel of Mor Ardain at his throat. He didn't seem arrogant, nor reckless. There was a look in his eyes of measured calculation, already Morag felt as if he knew her better than he'd let on in their discussion. As proof to solidfy the claim, there was a piece of paper sighed by her brother that matched up to the paper in his personal notebook, along with the core chip Aegon used and Brighid's journal. Any one of those would have given her a slight inkling to believe him, but all three were overwhelming, especially since Brighid still had her notebook. Not only that, once she had declared her mission and cleared the group to travel through Ardainian lands so long as she was with them, he'd led them to the underside of Torigoth. Into the house of a single Nopon. Who declared them strangers and grabbed the nearest object to fight back. That was how Morag learned Rex could catch a large wrench in one hand while dealing with complicated circuitry with the other. He grumbled to Tora about still being a pain in the ass and the Nopon loudly exclaimed he didn't know the young Drive. After a while Rex stated that he'd collected the parts Poppi had needed and that was when he pulled out a core crystal and Awakened an electric Blade. "Kora, charge her up please, max volts," The Blade happily obliged and put her knuckles to the humanoid machine. In a large zap and flash of light, the object opened it's eyes, "Congratulations Tora, you made the first Artificial Blade, now we can either go to Uraya and collect Vandham or to Mor Ardain and get Bana before he mass produces the Artificial Blades he made using stolen blueprints," 

"You mean that blue Nopon from Argentum?" Patroka asked,

"The very same, now normally after we talk Morag, you want to go home and talk Niall, but you always debate the idea of getting more hands, in Mor Ardain we can get Mikhail but Uraya we'd get Vanhdam _and_ Akhos," This, salvager, the more he spoke the more she believed him. How calmly he spoke of things a boy his age should either not know or be too afraid to get involved with, but we do meet Malos and Jin at Uraya and things won't go as easy as the ship last night,"

"I say we go to Mor Ardain and get Mikhail then," Patroka folded her arms, "If we're going to fight those two, we'll need all hands on deck, three is better than two,"

"Alright, well, that makes it all very easy," Rex chuckled, Morag looked at him questioningly, "We'll head to Mor Ardain, Morag if it's alright with you, we'll let you take to Niall while we head to catch Bana, we can take a squad of troops so they can shut it down while we get bring in Bana and get Mikhail back," Morag watched as Patroka got in Rex's personal space,

"Remember, the only reason I'm trusting you is because of that ring,"

"I know, but you read the note, why would I have that if you couldn't trust me? I've got Nia's bracelet and Mikhail's locket too, do you really expect me to betray you when I have three of Torna around me? I already promised you and Akhos were going to be part of the family,"

"And what of me?" Morag raised an eyebrow,

"You're already part of the family to me Morag, every time we've done this, you've joined us early on, here, in Mor Ardain, sometimes Uraya but that's if we get eaten by the bastard," She hummmed for a moment, "Don't worry Morag, we'll land in Fonsa Myma this time and make our way up to Fonsett, instead of down form the mouth," Birghid spoke from beside her,

"You have three Aegises?"

"No, they all share the same core crystal, I just helped them with a case of severe mulitple identity problem, meet Mythra, Pyra and Pneuma,"

"Sounds, out there but if what you say is true, then it's not the weirdest thing you've said,"

"What is? The fact I've spent three hundred years doing the same two weeks or that Tora had installed several inredibly perverted subroutines in his Artificial Blade that looks to be child?"

"Speaking of that, do you know how many more times you are going to have to do this?"

"As many times as it takes,"

* * *

He stretched once more as he stood from Azurda's back. Catching the titan up was always easy, he'd always know when Rex was telling the truth. He put a hand out and Pneuma appeared in a flash of light. Holding up his other hand under the first, he crossed them and closed his fists. Dragging them to the other side made two streams of light move from Pneuma and turn into Pyra and Mythra. The three were dazed as per usual. With a finger he poked Pneuma's core crystal, bringing her up to speed immediately, it had been a while since he'd remembered to do that, hopefully she understood. "Hello Mythra, Pyra, I'm Rex, your Driver, we're going to Elyisum but first I need to meet Jin and Malos," Mythra seemed horrified, "Things happened while you were in stasis, it's been five hundred years Mythra," She didn't recoil as he tapped her and Pyra's core crystal, the glowed and became a darker green, "You two are now completey your own blades, neither of you are the Aegis, that's Pneuma here, Mythra you were a facet of Pneuma that fulfilled Addams wish when he resonated with your previously shared core crystal, you still have Siren but you are no longer the Aegis," Their crystals glowed and became darker before the piece sat in his chest was refilled. Only Pneuma's had the space now, even then it would be filled in a minute. Slipping Mythra's and Pyra's swords onto the holders on his thighs he clipped Pneuma's Monado on the back of his waist. Ontos' sat on his back, from his left shoulder and passing his right hip. That Aegis was such a cryptic fucker, Rex didn't remember a single straight answer coming from pricks mouth. However the fear when he called him by his true name instead of Alvis had made the test of patience well worth it. Pneuma's core crystal glowed lightly as it slowly refilled. They needed to remain in close proximity for now. Luckily there was just enough time before he got to Bana's office if he shipped the money first. Bringing out a bag of core crystals he closed his eyes and gripped them one at a time. Wulfric, Agate, KOS-MOS, T-elos and Praxis. He'd have to really thank Nia when he finally got out of this time loop, because her idea to take the sleeping cores and reactivate them, had drastically reduced how long he spent touring Alrest instead of solving his problem, except this time he knew what he'd been missing. It had taken a so many liftimes, so it was about time, but this was probably going to be his hardest run yet.

Walking into Bana's office, Rex was accompanied by his Blades. "Bana, say a word and I'll tell Mor Ardain about the Artificial Blade factory you're running on their titan," The Nopon wisely kept quiet as the door opened. His heart paused, Nia looked at him and he closed his eyes. Sever's connection was moved to him as he caught the arm previously wielding it. The second Ether connection was broken and he gripped the arm tightly. His other hand moved to grab the core crustal he knew was there. Ontos had finally cracked and given him his backup of it and when it was combined with Pneuma's it was virtually a perfect copy. Rex gave him a Hard Reset and connected to him. Opposed to Amalthus' twisted connection of hatred and disillusion, there was now a connection of forgiveness and patience. The disorders the Indolian gave Logos weren't going to disappear over night, but it didn't mean they couldn't start working now. "Logos, stand down for just a second,"

"Who you,"

"I'm talking to you Logos, I'll explain everything if you calm down,"

"You connected me to you? You took me from the geezer?"

"Yes, I wasn't letting you suffer from that tortured connection any longer, I've seen the effect it has on you over a thousand times,"

"What do you mean brat?"

"Malos I'm older than you," That caused the room to pause, "I know I may look fifteen, but I can do this," With a snap he was twenty, "And I've lived a thousand lifetimes, repeated the same things so many times, I know everything that's going to happen to everyone for the next two weeks, except you and Jin," As much as he hated to admit it, the two leaders of Torna were almost unwavering. This time though, Rex had a trump card, something he'd been trying to figure out for decades. Something he could've done from the start but never managed to realize. "We have the same goal, to get to the Architect, we don't we work together to get there?" Malos smirked,

"And what makes you think I won't kill you?"

"Because I know who Logos is and you want to find that out," Pushing him back, he tapped his core crystal. "As a sign of good faith, I've helped you a bit," Logos stared down to the repaired purple crystal, "And now I'm you Driver, you can work with me instead of against me," Mythra and Pyra seemed hesitant while Pneuma stared impassively, Jin slowly reached for his sword. "I wouldn't," Rex warned lightly, "Jin, I want you to trust me above all else,"

"Why?"

"Because I can heal Lora,"

Aboard the Marsanes, Rex followded Jin at a relaxed pace. His Blades walked behind him, admired the space or talkign with Nia and the now ex-Flesh Eaters. Each of them had a glowing crystal of different colours. Even his own Blades were given the balancing, Nia had been shocked to learn he knew of her Flesh Easter status but quickly trusted him after he showed the well worn bracelet she'd given him those lifetimes ago. Logos remained at the back, still skeptical and visibly uneasy, Rex gave him the space he needed for now. It was more important proving his intent than trying to explain it. They found the body trapped in a large chunk of never melting ice. He gulped and Mythra and Pyra softly inhaled, putting their hands up to their mouths. Pneuma moved forwards with him and quickly melted the ice. Together they put their hands to her head and closed their eyes.

"W-where am I?" A voice behind him, so this is how it felt to be the one looking over Elysium. Pyra and Mythra never let him see the reconstructed view, but it looked incredible. Turning around he leant on the tree and Pneuma turned around on the other side. They faced Lora who stared in complete confusion, "Mythra? Addam?" He laughed,

"Not quite, my name is Rex, this is Pneuma, she's Mythra's true form, or was, until I seperated their minds to give them their own bodies," He jabbed a thumb in her direction, "Meanwhile I? I'm both a lot younger and older than Addam at the same time, it's been five hundred years since you died, Jin ate your heart to become a Flesh Easter in desperation to defend people from Amalthus, the rat bastard is beyond saving,"

"And what does that have to do with where I am?"

"Well, it's a reconstruction of Elysium how Pneuma remembers it, right now we're about to bring you back to life,"

"But my heart,"

"Jin stabbed me through the back of my heart, Pyra shared her life force to help keep me alive while it healed, we plan on doing the same for you," Rex chuckled as her face changed to abject horror, "Anyways, there's a few things I need to clear something up before we go back, when we go back, you will not be Pneuma's primary Driver, that's me, you will however be able to act like her Driver while part of her core if embedded into you using the Ether to heal you, don't worry, by the time we're at the World Tree, you'll be all healed and we'll be able to remove the piece safely, following so far?" She nodded, "Great, now, the core will make you seem like a Blade, but you can't use Arts or Specials, alright? You can still synergise with Jin, but that's the end of it,"

"Right,"

"And thirdly, whatever you do, do _not_ go after Malos,"

"He's still alive?" Rex's face fell flat, "Alright, no attacking, got it,"

"Good now, please put a hand to her core crystal," A bright flash and they were stood back on the Marsanes. Lora took a deep breath and sat up, spluttering. Nobody dared move as she got up and checked herself over, there was a glowing green X identical to Rex's on her chest now, sat just under her collar. He grinned to her as she looked around, "Welcome back to the land of the living Lora," Her eyes found Jin immediately as she stomped over to the considerably taller Blade, who's mask covered his now storm grey core crystal. They stared at each other for a moment before he doubled over from the punch to his stomach,

"Stabbing a child, not only in the back but through the heart?!" She hissed, "Have you no honour left?"

"W-what?"

"Oh, I should explain, Lora, he hasn't done that this time, that was the other like, thousand runs on board the ship Pyra had been sealed away on," Lora gapsed before hugging Jin.

"Sorry," He seemed more confused than anything else, his wide eyes looked to Rex.

"Like I said," A shrug, "I've lived a thousand lifetimes, it just happens to be the same two weeks every fucking time, most of them contain you stabbing me through the heart on the second evening and things spiral from there," The Blade made an 'O' shape with his mouth. "Now, let's set sail, I have a few people to pick up before we scale the World Tree," He held out the gun he modified, taking it from the pocket space Pneuma had made him when he began carrying too many items. "We also have a Preator to kill, now, who wants to take the shot? Jin? Malos?" Both of them looked to each other in alarm. "Alright then, I guess,"

"I'll do it," Jin said with finality, "I've been wanting to do something like this for centuries," The gun was handed over, Jin inspected it. "Won't the blame be put on Mor Ardain?"

"Nope, the rouds are a custom design, made with an Urayan ore, the gloves leave Gormotti hair and you'll be in Indolian gear to access the firing point," Rex grinned, "They won't have a clue since they'd never guess a Leftherian modified the gun or a Blade took the shot," Lora turned to him,

"Wait you're Leftherian? But they don't have golden eyes,"

"Huh? No, I was raised in Leftheria, I don't know my heritage, my folks died when I was two, delivered me to an orphanage on Fonsett island," Lora squinted, investigating him. "Come on, we need to go to Uraya first,"

Everyone was behind him, he'd made sure they wouldn't reach him in case it was looped back again. Taking a deep breath he looked at the doorway, this time it was open. Hoping that meant it was a good sign, he looked through it, there was a light at the other end. Along with a lot of movement. He walked backwards until his back pressed against the wall. "Alright, come on," Getting into a runners crouch, he looked at the light and focused on getting there this time. A hearty self hype up. "You got this, come on, head first," Something in his gut told him he was so close, the end was almost there. He could quite literally see the beginning of the end. In a single burst of confidence he dashed through it and into the corridor. Keeping his eyes open and locked on the dim light he kept going through. Everyone was waiting for him on the other side. Everyone. The Architect stood off to the side, floating with his legs crossed. Something in Rex knew his name intrinsically. The eon old mind marched over to him. Half his body was missing in a black whirl. Pneuma and Ontos had pretty much filled him in on everything that had happened and he rather abruptly stuck his hand in the swirl. As everyone cried out in shock, he pulled out a white orb and threw it towards the window showing the planet beneath them. Grabbing the swirl thrice more, he pulled out three bodies before gripping the swirl and pulling it off Klaus.

"Who are you bacteria?"

"Be quiet Zanza," Rex growled as he walked over to the sandy haird blonde, he opened his mouth again, only for the Driver to smack him around the face. "Get over there, now," Zanza stared as him, eyes misting over before trudging over and standing next to Klaus' half body. In a snap and flash of light the two were united into one body again. Looking to Rex in shock, Klaus lifted his right hand that had been missing moments before. "Simulation is over Klaus, I dragged your other half out of the dying universe just before Shulk could kill him, your life was saved but you weren't goign to heal unless I used Aegis power to undo the damage, you're welcome," He turned to a mechanical looking lady, "Meyneth, your fighting are no longer required," Holding a hand to her, she transformed into a human body, "Welcome back Galea," Immediately she ran over to the collapsed form of Klaus, who was on his hands and knees taking deep, shaky breaths. "Ontos,"

"My name is,"

"Ontos, I don't care what name you took after you ran away, you are Ontos, like he is Logos and she is Pneuma, Being, Reason and Spirit, the soul, the mind and the heart," Everyone watched him quietly, "The three of you controlled the Conduit, I know, a trintiy processor, Pneuma created the idea of what to do, you turned the idea into a reality, Logos edits or destroys that which doesn't match or aid the reality," Pneuma and Logos walked over to him, both standing with him. "Now jumper, you're going to take me to a few places in space-time alright?"

"Rex, you can't, there's so many,"

"Ontos I have lived a million lifetimes, I wish I was using hyperbole, but I'm not, the last two weeks have been my existence for millenia, I've had enough time to study the consequences of my actions and know that they don't matter,"

"How can you say that?"

"Because I am the Second Architect, I command the Conduit and reality is my bitch," Logos laughed, clapping a hand to his gut.

"I knew there was a reason I liked you brat," His Monado formed in his off hand, "Just because I wanna see what you're going to do, here," Rex took it and let it hand from his hip, "Now you got all three, you can do whatever you can imagine," With a borderline feral grin, he turned to Ontos.

"Let's get moving time jumper,"

Malos and Mythra charged at each other. Malos was grinning savagely as Mythra held no expression, her eyes devoid of light. Everyone watched as they were about to clash. There was a flash of light as the air seemed to ripple and suddenly swords met. In between Mythra and Malos stood a boy, holding both of their weapons in his hands. "Alright," He growled "Game on," His arm twisted in such a way to let him kick Malos back, "You get a time out," The sword as put back on his hip. "You snap out of it," Mythra barely budged as the hand landed on the side of her face. "Come on Mythra, this isn't you," Slowly, the light began returning to her eyes.

"W-who,"

"I'm the guy you just saw, here to solve your problems, except this time," A boyish grin, "This time I'm not late," Putting his version of her sword on the back of his waist. Rex unslung Ontos's Monado from his back and gripped it as it turned orange. "Malos, you need to stop, Amalthus imprinted his hatred for the world onto you when he Awakened you," The man stared down at him with a snarl, "Look at yourself _Logos_ , do you think Klaus would let this happen if he could still do shit? All the man can do right now is sit up in his room and sulk like a bitch, don't make me treat you like the toddler you're behaving like,"

"Even if the geezer had given his personality to me, how would you?" Rex crossed the distance in a moment,

"Purging it from your databanks," His fingers retracted from the crystal, Malos's arms went limp at his side as he fell into Rex. Why was the body so heavy? Surely it was just an Ether construction?

"What... What have I done?"

"Nothing I can't undo," Rex smiled, patting his back, "Now let's get moving, Ontos!"

"That's not my fucking name!" The group were gone in a great flash of white.

Amalthus hefted himself onto the platform. He'd climbed so high, he could see all of Alrest from where he lay catching his breath. The hate in his heart helped him to get up and look towards the darkness of the World Tree, he'd find something up here. Something to help him bring about his world order, that would help him destroy the undeserving. He paused at a metallic sound _chiklink_. "Amalthus, don't take this personally," He looked to see a boy wielding a weapon Mor Ardain were developing. Impossible! Not only was that theoretical but there was no colony on the World Tree, let alone one who could communicate with Mor Ardain of all places. "If you must know, this is Ardainian, firing a rock from Uraya, only firing with gel produced by Gormott wildlife and decorated with Indolian markings, best part? I was born a Tornan and raised Leftherian," The boy aimed the weapon at him, "This is the world's pre-emptive fuck you," He didn't see the shot, only the weapon suddenly point upwards. There was no pain, no sound, nothing as he suddenly found himself falling down to the Cloud Sea. Branches and brambles broke underneath his weight as he kept getting faster. Rex looked down and spat at the falling body before turning to Ontos. "Let's go," The dark corridor was illuminated for sparsely a second.

Walking out onto Azurda's back he fell onto his knees. There was no way, no way he'd missed anything this time! He'd solved everyone's problems, created New Elysium, brought the remains of Bionis to save Shulk's universe as well. Turned the Homs to humans and the Mechons to a biological based lifeform, letting their existence continue without the Mechonis to support them. He'd reunited Klaus' two halve and saved Galea, brought the Torna fighters foward in time so they could get the happil ever afters. Stopped Amalthus from starting the whole nightmare of events. He'd done everything! Everything he could think of. Why was he back- "Rex?"

No. He didn't, he _wouldn't_

"Rex, calm down, you haven't started again, Klaus was able to make a doorway and bring us all back down," Nia crouched next to him, "Hey, hey, look at me, calm down," He turned to face her, "Yeah it was probably a dumb idea to put it back to where you would be, but it's alright," Slowly she helped him to his feet, "That's it, easy, just look," Below them, the clouds were dispersing, revealing a crystalline blue sea of water. Azurda was flying down, spiralling around the World Tree. Right now it was only Rex and Nia on his back. Her arm wrapped protectively around his back. "He sent the others to Tora's house, it's just us right now Rex, everything is okay though, I promise, Rex,"

"How old am I Nia?"

"W-what? Rex, you're twenty-three, just like the first time we had our advent-,"

"Nia I was fifteen when we first toured Alrest," Her shock translated to a tense arm, "I've been making myself look twenty to get Malos and Jin to listen to me, it took years to learn how to do it,"

"So where did those eight years come from?" They heard someone walk from the hut behind them.

"Perhaps I can help with that," They turned to see Klaus stood in the doorway, dressed in a sky blue shirt with a white labcoat, brown slack and a black tie. "Rex, I know what I did was horrible and you probably,"

"Klaus I spent more lifetimes than anyone will ever count trapped in that cycle, I learned that holding onto those feelings, nobody wins, as much as I forgive you, I can't trust you,"

"I sent out a deepspace signal when you converged the universes,"

"I didn't do that though, I only,"

"When you brought the halves of me together you reversed the effects of the Conduit expirement yes? That means you reversed them at the source, _me_ , I was more the anchor for all universes, keeping them tied together in some frankenstein's monster multiverse I created due to my hubris and lost hope for mankind, you undoing the effects on me, began undoing the effects _everywhere_ , did you not notice KOS-MOS had disappeared? She'll entering orbit in a few seconds, T-elos will be arriving to find her shortly thereafter, once the surviving colony on Mira get my deepspace signal, they'll begin their two year return trip home,"

"W-what? Mira, what are you?"

"Rex, explaining the theory of mulitversal convergence and how it's different from multiversal collapse would take lifetimes, lifetimes that neither of us have any more," He sighed wistfully, "Alright, I'll do a basic rundown, do you have a notepad and pen?" Handing both items over to Klaus, he leant backwards to sit down. Nia joined him, gently taking his hand. "Look, here's my _uni-_ verse," A straight line, "I activated the Conduit, that was a bad idea as it created pocket dimesions connected to this one," Several lines branched off from a point, "Now, all these universes exist at the same time in the same space, they are a _multiverse_ , now half of these operate on Last Thursdayism, they have eons of history, but in truth, they were created to what effectively mounts to Last Thurdsay and that history is all,"

"Uh, what's Thursday?" 

"It's... the fourth day of the week?"

"Oh you called it something different before then, got it," Rex nodded in understanding, Klaus erred for a moment before continuing.

"Yes, anyway, well, those universes think they existed long before us, but in truth, it was this universe that birthed them thanks to the Conduit, now, there's two timelines here that are linked, the prime universe, which goes up here, and Shulk's universe, down here," The first line curved straight up and reached the top of the paper before flattening out, a second line branched off the curve, going down to the bottom. "They are linked because I became the Architect and Zanza," A dotted lin connected the two, "For simplistic reason, I'm drawing it as if the other timelines existed between these two because otherwise we bring in general relativity and special relativity and complex astro-physics this world does not understand," He drew more lines coming off the two vertical lines. "Now, when you pulled Zanza and the rest back to this timeline, and undid the effects of the Conduit you actually dragged the timline back on course," The bottom line curved upwards and stopped at the middle of the paper, the top was also curved to meet in the middle. "What you did was begin a chain of events that forces all the timelines to converge into one point, everything universe ending doesn't count anymore due to the larger space-time effect negating it, so any timelines that were erased, collapsed or otherwise get to come back and join us,"

"So, it's like the bubble I was in while Rex went through the loop?" Nia raised her hand gently, "Like, each of us were a different timeline, not in any way linked except via Rex being the anchor and once he managed to bring all of us together, the bubble popped," Klaus grinned,

"It's almost exactly like that, every universe existed unware of the others or how they came in to be, until the two opposing timelines that encapsulated them were brought together,"

"Me and Malos," Rex mumbled, "I needed to work with Malos to get to Rhadamanthus and then all the runs began to converge together resulting in this timeline that started at the original run and ended with the major effects of every run," Klaus tapped his nose,

"Now you're getting it, if we take the example of your second run where you saved Vandham, while the first run had the loss of him, after that time-space edit, he's considered by the universe as a whole, to be alive and well, so the people of Mira who didn't exist in this universe until now,"

"Are considered reality in this universe because their state of existing overwrote the state of nothing out in deep space?"

"But what about the small things? Like Rex having different partners? And all the match making he did?"

"Think of it like a vote, the ones that occured the majority of the time will overwrite the more occasional ones," Klaus smiled, "With so many alternatives, it becomes a process of which one can overwrite the most, if there are equal amounts, then a new scenario will be generated in order to allow the universe to maintain order," A light chuckle, "His first gazillion kisses won't matter as long as he kissed someone else more than once," Nia hugged him tightly, "Although since you joined him for three runs, I suspect that you will end up remembering four timelines, the first where he restores you crystal and the subsequent three you accompanied him on, but unlike his memory, yours will adjust to say you did all four in one go instead of the two hundred years between them," Everything began to click in his head. The loop was finally over, it was done! "Rex, can I also ask, why didn't you used the Processor to upadate all Blades on their next Awakening?" Oh fuck-, "It's fine, I handled it, from now on all appearences are randomly generated, no-one is going to have to worry about their missing memories again," He could almost cry with relief. Nia knocked him over as she leapt against him, capturing him in a hug. They laughed for a moment and before Rex could stop himself, he'd put his hands on either side of her face, pulling her down into a kiss. Once she pulled back, her forehead was rested against his.

"I've waited a thousand lifetimes for this," He grinned. "Now it's time for the one I've been after this entire time, a lifetime with you,"

**Author's Note:**

> And scene.  
> I know this isn't my usual BNHA or BNHA-related but I'm actually a big fan of XC2 and the idea of NGP. After I started it, I began to wonder what it would be like if the characters actually remember the previous run? What if NGP actually gave you the chance to change the story? That's what gave birth to this 'time-loop' idea of Rex trying to get the ending where everyone lives (except Amalthus because fuck him). Anyways, I was thinking that I could inspire you guys to write about it, even if you just made up a story that Rex could go through within this time-loop. But I digress, I hope you enjoyed my hand in the XC2-verse. And as always  
> This is Phantom  
> Fading out.


End file.
